Fish Swim Against the Taliban Tide

February 17, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

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A generous grant from the USAID has helped revive trout farming in northern Pakistan. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS

By Ashfaq Yusufzai

PESHAWAR, Feb 14 (IPS) – The rivers in northern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province were once thick with trout. Spanning hundreds of kilometres, these water bodies played host to the exotic fish, first introduced by the British in the early 1900s, which eventually became a staple in the diets and livelihoods of the province’s 20 million residents.Over the years, hundreds of state-run hatcheries and private fish farms popped up to rear and harvest brown trout and rainbow trout.

Khan Daraz, a fish farm owner from the Swat valley, located in the north of KP, once earned close to 3,000 dollars a month selling trout in the local market. His family could count on fresh fish on the dinner table every night, and Daraz himself had no fears of ever going hungry.

But over a decade of militancy in the region — which reared its head after U.S. troops toppled the Taliban-led government in Kabul in 2001, sending scores of extremists fleeing across the border into Pakistan’s mountains – gradually destroyed the sector.

Constant violent activity between 2007 and 2009 kept tourists at bay, cutting fish farmers off from one of their primary consumer markets.

Meanwhile, local populations in Swat were uprooted by military operations and forced to flee to the neighbouring regions of Peshawar and Mardan, abandoning their farms and hatcheries.

Heavy floods that swept through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2010, destroyed an estimated 56,000 homes, killed 344 people, injured over 1,200 more and carried off what was left of the fish farms.

It is only now, thanks to a 5.25 million-dollar grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) designed to revive the local industry, that people like Daraz have begun to get back on their feet.

“I never thought that I would be able to restore my business,” Daraz told IPS. “Now I am finally back on the path to success."

Historical livelihood destroyed

Although Europeans introduced trout to the streams and rivers in the 1960s, it was not until the 1970s and 1980s that the government demonstrated a vested interested in developing robust fisheries in the northern province, Pervez Khan of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Fisheries Department told IPS.

Rainbow trout, considered the more resilient of the two species, quickly became more popular but because of their propensity to displace indigenous fish – such as the popular snow trout – and disrupt local ecosystems, they were reared to become sterile in adulthood.

The fish provided a nutritious addition to the local diet, and also enabled communities to supplement their income by “selling excess harvest to local fish stands”, he added.

Because of subsistence fisheries’ vital role in providing food security and a living wage to people in mountain areas like Swat, the government quickly integrated the practice into its broader rural development initiatives.

Two types of fish farms proliferated throughout the region: full farming systems, in which trout are raised from a young stage to adulthood, included hatcheries for breeding and fry production; while partial farming systems were dedicated to growing young fish to market size.

According to a report by the provincial Fisheries Department, 38 private farms cultivating rainbow trout in KP produced 162 tonnes per year.

Prior to 2007, revenue from the sale of market-sized fish in Swat was an estimated 2.1 million dollars annually.

A business census of the private trout farms in Swat in early 2010 found that, by 2006, just before the escalation of extremist militancy, annual farmed production of rainbow trout had dropped from 162 tonnes to an estimated 40 tonnes. By the end of 2007 production had come to a near complete standstill.

In early 2010, trout farmers reported roughly one million dollars’ worth of damages to their farms and hatcheries as a direct result of military activity in the region.

Shah Rasool, who works on a local fish farm, told IPS the collapse of the industry stripped over 20,000 people of their livelihoods.

Muhammad Jawad, a schoolteacher in Swat, told IPS his family used to buy trout twice a week, since it was cheaper than any other meat in the region.

“As the militancy destroyed everything here, we could no longer afford any meat – the imported stuff was too costly.”

Slow and steady revival

The revival effort first began in 2010, as part of USAID’s Pakistan FIRMS Project, an initiative designed to strengthen industries and the private sector, particularly in the country’s politically unstable regions.

The grant aims to “provide technical support for (reconstruction) of businesses adversely affected by the militancy and the 2010 floods”, according to Khan.

“This will be conducted in line with government efforts and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s National Policy on Fisheries and Aquaculture 2006, through a broad, bottom-up consultation with stakeholders,” he added.

Already, things are returning to normal and the bustling marketplaces are replete with fish stalls and customers rushing to purchase trout at affordable prices.

Khursheed Alam, president of the Swat Fish Farms Association, told IPS that funds, training and technical support in the form of equipment and supplies have all contributed to the revival of the sector.

As of June 2012, construction material, fish feed, fish eggs, and equipment worth nearly 960,000 dollars had been distributed to fish farmers throughout the region.

Aqeel Zaman, a fish farmer who has spent over 10 years delivering fish door-to-door to his customers in the Swat valley, is jubilant about the changes taking place.

“For two years our activities were halted by the militancy,” he told IPS “Now we have taken up our jobs again and the earnings are better than they were in the past”, since farmers and vendors have been trained on how to preserve their produce.

“We earn more than 3,000 a month which is enough. But the business is gaining momentum and we hope that our earnings can reach 5,000 a month by the end of 2013,” he said.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Asia, Development, Report Tagged With: , ,

Fishers Fight Over Dwindling Catch

February 7, 2013 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

Edgardo Ayala

PUERTO DE LA LIBERTAD, El Salvador, Feb 07 (IPS) – Boats were tying up at the jetty and there was a bustle of activity as vendors cried their wares, offering shellfish to potential buyers, while young people, sharp knives in hand, filleted sea bass and red snapper. Meanwhile, on the promenade, octogenarian musicians played old-style cumbias and boleros for restaurant patrons.But the lighthearted atmosphere belied a sombre reality here in Puerto de la Libertad, a small town on the Pacific coast in the southwest of El Salvador.

Standing next to his small boat, fisherman Víctor Flores gazed with disappointment at the fruits of two days’ labour: just 10 fish heaped in the safe at the bottom of his boat.

"I went to sea happy, thinking I was going to feed my family, but today I don’t want to go home, I am so ashamed and sad," said Flores.

The 44-year-old man, browned by the sun, told IPS that some years ago there was always catfish, red snapper, sea bass and mackerel on the family table.

But small-scale fishing no longer yields the same results, artisanal fishers in Puerto de la Libertad and other coastal areas told IPS.

In their view, the blame lies squarely on trawling, practised for decades by large shrimp boats that drag their nets across the bottom of the sea, gathering along the way species other than the intended catch and very young specimens that have not yet matured.

A ban on bottom trawling is vital to preserve marine life in this small Central American country, experts say. But the fall in fish stocks is also due to other factors, such as pollution and climate change, they say.

"There are various reasons; it cannot be said for certain that it is only due to overfishing," said Enrique Patiño, head of Fundación ProPesca, an NGO based in the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington, which supports sustainable use of aquatic resources in Central America and the Caribbean.

But the most urgent action is to stop trawling, because it will have an immediate impact, Patiño told IPS.

Not just fish but other sea creatures too are at risk. Shrimp, for example, is less abundant now than it was eight years ago. The shrimp catch fell by 35 percent between 2005 and 2011, according to a report on shrimp fisheries and aquaculture published in May 2012 by the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector Organisation of the Central American Isthmus (OSPESCA) together with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Of even greater concern is that "since 2005 it has been impossible to calculate the fishable biomass of shrimp," says the report by Lilián Orellana. "Lack of research monitoring and estimates of reserves of this species make it difficult to determine present stocks."

The decline in fish catches threatens the ability of the 128 coastal communities spread along El Salvador’s 320-kilometre-long coast to feed themselves.

Fish is an essential part of the diets of some 28,000 artisanal fisherfolk and their families, and also of those who depend on related activities, such as small-scale fish vendors.

Coastal dwellers are happy when they sit down to a plate of fried fish, boiled beans and a sliced tomato, said 47-year-old fisherman Fredy Pérez.

"In El Salvador, 95 percent of the artisanal fish catch is for domestic consumption," said Patiño, so "naturally, it is important for food security."

Fish consumption in Latin America and the Caribbean is the second lowest in the world after Africa, at only 9.9 kilogrammes per person per year, according to the "State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2012” report published by the FAO.

In North America, by contrast, annual consumption is 24.6 kilogrammes per person.

And if bottom trawling is not stopped, access to the high quality protein in fish will continue to fall.

In April 2011, after a decade of lobbying, two federations of artisanal fisherfolk were able to persuade parliament to establish an exclusion zone of three nautical miles for industrial shrimp trawlers.

In response, the companies represented by the Salvadoran Chamber of Fisheries and Aquaculture (CAMPAC) lodged a constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court against the new law.

The new law "is forcing companies to shut down their operations, because they cannot survive the restriction", Waldemar Arnecke, head of CAMPAC, told IPS.

Waning catches are also noticeable in the industrial shrimping sector. And the three-mile coastal strip represents 61 percent of the productive area. At present, only 30 CAMPAC trawlers are working, while an estimated 5,800 small boats are active in artisanal fishing.

The shrimpers argue that the law violates the principle of equality. "Exclusive use of the sea should not be given to some while leaving others out," said Arnecke.

The economic importance of shrimp exports has been declining since the 1990s, replaced by the new stellar export, tuna; CAMPAC’s clout has fallen commensurately.

Orellana’s report estimates that industrial fishing provides 175 direct jobs and a further 210 indirectly.

According to Arnecke, the federations of cooperatives that promoted the legal reform do not represent the whole spectrum of artisanal fishers. In fact, CAMPAC entered into an alliance with the recently created Federación de Cooperativas de Pescadores Artesanales de la Bahía de Jiquilisco in Puerto El Triunfo, an umbrella group for 12 associations, to work on environmental projects in that southeastern area of the country.

Meanwhile, members of the Federación de Asociaciones Cooperativas Pesqueras Artesanales de El Salvador (FACOPADES) and the Federación de Cooperativas de Producción y Servicios Pesqueros de La Paz (FECOOPAZ), two federations of fishers’ cooperatives, travelled to the capital on Jan. 23 to present their arguments in favour of the law to the Supreme Court.

"We are defending food security, and for that we need to insist on the three-mile zone," fisherman Armando Erazo, head of the oversight board of FECOOPAZ, told a press conference.

The small-scale fisherfolk complained that the shrimp industry is continually breaking the law, which remains in force.

Arnecke admitted that some boats may have trespassed into the restricted zone, and the authorities have already recorded several incidents. IPS was unable to confirm this – several attempts to contact officials at the Centro de Desarrollo de la Pesca y la Acuicultura (Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Centre), the regulatory body for the sector, yielded no response.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2013.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Economy, Environment, Latin America, Report Tagged With: , ,

Key Fisheries Treaty to Lapse in Rebuke to U.S.

May 26, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Christopher Pala

HONOLULU, Hawaii, U.S., May 26, 2011 (IPS) – For the past quarter century, the United States’ relations with Pacific island nations were framed by the South Pacific Tuna Treaty, which combines foreign aid, subsidies to the U.S. fleet of purse-seine fishing vessels and their largely unfettered access to the islands’ waters, which contain the world’s last major stocks of tuna.

But last month, after a year of negotiations to extend it, Papua New Guinea unilaterally abrogated the 1987 treaty, citing a clear U.S. refusal to address the concerns of the other members.

"Taking a hard line with a group of small, mostly poor, friendly states was a failed strategy," Phil Kline of Greenpeace, virtually the only non-governmental organisation to closely track the fishery, said last week. "Now the U.S. is either going to have to make bilateral arrangements like the other fishing countries or negotiate a new treaty that meets the requirements of the islands."

The treaty is unique in the region in that it links development aid to access to fishing grounds, though such arrangements are common between European and African states.

The aid totals 18 million dollars a year and is shared by 13 countries. For some, which receive little money from fishing license because their waters attract few tuna, it’s significant – for others, like PNG or Kiribati or Micronesia, much less.

In addition, the treaty provides six million dollars a year to pay most of the vessels’ license fees, while the vessels themselves contribute five million dollars. It caps the number of vessels at 40, but does not limit how many days each vessel can fish. It also requires Coast Guard planes to search for poachers and other law- enforcement activities.

PNG is one of four treaty super-members (the others are Kiribati, the U.S. and Micronesia) whose withdrawal from the treaty automatically abrogates it for all. Its top fisheries official, Sylvester Pokajam, is also the chairman of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), which groups the eight islands in whose Exclusive Economic Zones most of the fish is caught.

"They haven’t been listening at all," said Pokajam, explaining why his country, with the support of the PNA, ended negotiations to renew the treaty, which as a result will expire next May.

The other treaty members are the Cook Islands, Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Samoa. New Zealand and Australia are members but do not receive aid.

The region attracted growing numbers of purse-seiners after these ships depleted tuna stocks in the Eastern Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Most tuna are found along the equator.

Over the past few years, scientists in the Central and Western Pacific have warned that catches of bigeye tuna, the most valuable to sushi lovers after the fast-disappearing bluefin, should be cut by 30percent or the species could collapse and become commercially extinct because of overfishing from purse-seiners. These are industrial ships that can haul a school of tuna weighing more than 100 tonnes at a time.

Yellowfin stocks are also significantly reduced and even skipjack, the main species used for canning, has shown signs of decline.

After the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, which includes the major fishing nations (Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Spain and the U.S.), failed to significantly reduce the catch, the PNA group was created. By leveraging the contracts its members sign yearly with all nations except the U.S., whose rules are set by the treaty, PNA embarked on a series of unprecedented conservation measures.

These apply to over 200 vessels and include banning fishing in an area of international waters larger than India, reducing the use of devices that cause most of the bigeye mortality, creating a system to monitor by satellite the fishing activity of each vessel and another system to reduce the number of days fished.

But when PNA officials, noting the environment-friendly tone of the Barack Obama administration, asked U.S. officials to either adopt the measures now or at least agree to include them in the treaty after its current set of rules expire in two years, the U.S. demurred.

"The U.S. talks about conservation but behaves differently," said Pokajam, the PNA leader.

The United States had earlier angered the island governments by allowing 25 Taiwanese vessels, owned jointly by U.S. companies and operating in the Western Pacific, to adopt the Stars and Stripes, thereby allowing them, under the treaty, to fish without the limits imposed on the fleets of other countries.

The companies promised to deliver more fish to Samoa, whose economy is tried to its two canneries, said U.S. Representative Eni Faleomavaega of Samoa. But not one ever showed up there.

"And what does the American taxpayer get in return?" wrote Faleomavaega. "A depleted tuna stock."

Whether the U.S. ends its development aid to the region is unclear. The State Department declined all requests for comment.

However, in a testimony to Congress last year, William Gibbons-Fly, the chief State department negotiator for the treaty, said the foreign aid and law-enforcement cooperation to the region was "dependent on the extension of the treaty".

Over the past 25 years, the aid of other nations and the access fees they pay have dwarfed the U.S. contribution. Today, New Zealand gives more aid to the region than does the United States.

According to PNA figures, the combined aid and fees the islands receive per day fished by a U.S.-flagged vessel is about 1,800 dollars, compared to 6,050 dollars for a Japanese one.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Diplomacy, Economy, Environment, Report, United States Tagged With:

JAPAN: Whaling Policy in Choppy Waters

February 27, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Feb 27, 2011 (IPS) – After years of stiff resistance, the Japanese government has announced a temporary halt to its controversial research whaling programme in the Antarctic Ocean, a decision that will finally stir the debate to promote sustainable fishing, say conservationists here.

"We welcome the decision to halt whaling this season as a step towards preserving whales which are an endangered species. The message is that whales have to be protected which is all the more valuable since it comes from a nation that is a leader in the consumption of seafood stocks," Junichi Sato, expert on whaling at Greenpeace Japan told IPS.

Since 1982, the world has followed global moratorium against commercial whaling by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) but only Japan was allocated an annual quota for scientific whaling that is aimed at determining available stocks.

Greenpeace International spearheads a global campaign against Japanese whaling that has led to bitter clashes and lawsuits against each other.

Several fisheries experts express support for the unprecedented move by the Japanese government, pointing out it is a vital landmark in dealing with the growing consumption of fish in the world that has lead to alarming depletion of stocks.

"The decision to call back the Japanese whaling fleet is based on low whale meat consumption locally, and other evidence that shows the industry is not sustainable," Prof. Toshio Katsura, marine biologist at Mie University told IPS.

Katsura has long called on the government to develop a visionary policy where fishing management based on quotas for fishers are seriously enforced in a bid to protect marine species.

Despite campaigns to increase the sale of whale meat from minke whales, the local market has reported a reduction of 30 percent in 2010, according to the Tokyo-based Minato Newspaper quoting the publicly funded whaling company Koyodo Senpaku.

Whale meat is popular among older consumers in the sixties and above whose diet soon after World War II relied on whale as a protein.

But a 2008 September survey conducted by an independent organization under a request by Greenpeace Japan conservationists indicates that 70 percent of people between the ages of 15 to 39 years have not eaten whale meat.

The Japanese media has reported that 4,000 tonnes of excess whale meat was frozen and stored in warehouses in 2009.

But, in sharp contrast to the mood displayed by conservationists, the announcement on Feb. 17 by Fisheries Minister Michiko Kano on the change of policy expressed no firm commitment to sustainable fishing practices.

Indeed, Kano avoided the word sustainability and instead cited "safety concerns for Japanese whalers" from harassment by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society that has blocked the Japanese ships from whaling.

The Japanese fleet Nishinmaru comprising five ships left for the Antarctica last December and harpooned 170 minke whales and two fin whales before it was called back. The catch is below the Japanese quota of 850 minke whales and 50 fin whales approved by the IWC for research purposes.

The government cites whale populations to justify this level of whaling for research. It says the minke whale population is estimated to have grown to more than 100,000 in the Atlantic and over 660,000 in the Southern Hemisphere.

Minke, a small sized whale, is reported to be the fastest growing species, and so research whaling is legitimate, according to the Japanese Fisheries Agency. Japan justifies research whaling as necessary to protect its indigenous cuisine that has included whale meat since the 12th century.

Prof. Masayuki Komatsu at the National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies, a think tank, who served as a former negotiator for the government at the IWC, is critical of the new move.

"Calling back the Japanese whalers to protect them from irresponsible and violent activists smacks of diplomatic weakness. This is not the way to go," he told IPS.

The conservationists insist the new move to curtail whaling is a powerful boost to their long call on the Japanese government to manage dwindling marine resources around the world.

Toshiaki Fujita, local governmental official at the Niigata prefecture located on the northwest coast of country is currently putting the finishing touches to a landmark programme where fishermen will participate in sustainable catches of sweet shrimp, a Japanese delicacy.

Speaking to IPS, Fujita says the new step to regulate fishing is aimed at cultivating a sustainable management system that will gain the support of Japanese fishermen to share a quota in catches.

"As the catches of sweet shrimp became smaller in size, the stark reality of reducing catches and preserving stocks became obvious to the fishing industry. This is why they are now willing to participate in this management experiment," he said.

Niigata is the third largest resource in Japan for sweet shrimp providing 600 tonnes annually. Only ten out of a hundred fishing companies have voluntary joined the programme, but Fujita says the group represents the largest shrimp companies in the area.

Biologist Katsura who launched the Niigata project, heralds the step as a groundbreaking start in Japan where the government " stubbornly refuses to fund such moves which are crucial for sustainable fishing."

"Government focus is on maintaining the supply of fish and much money is spent on farm-harvested technology as the solution. This is not the answer in the long run as fish farms depend on feed from the oceans."

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2011.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Report Tagged With: , ,

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Fisheries Need Transparent Regulation

February 11, 2011 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Isolda Agazzi

DAKAR, Feb 11, 2011 (IPS) – Senegalese fishers participating in the 2011 World Social Forum (WSF) warned governments to "wake up to the ethical and transparent regulation of access to fisheries" to halt the overexploitation of this increasingly scarce resource.

Charles Bakundakwita, executive secretary of the West African Association for the Development of Artisan Fishing (known by its French acronym ADEPA), told IPS at the WSF that, "we ask African states and the European Union to consider this danger and limit the depletion of fish stocks, both by large and small fishers".

Fishing officially supplies work to 600,000 people in Senegal, or 17 percent of the active working population. 400,000 tons are caught every year, contributing 2,3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 30 percent of exports. But the scarcity of fish is a major problem. During the "soudure" – the rainy season when there is no fish – people fall into debt.

Since 2007, Senegal has not renewed the fishing agreements with the European Union (EU) that gave large European trawlers access to its national waters. The National Federation of Fishers Associations (known by its French acronym FENAGIE) has been key in the opposition to these fishing licences.

The licences meant insufficient financial compensation that did not benefit communities.

"Senegal received between 21 and 23 million dollars per year from these fishing agreements," Papa Gora Ndiaye, executive secretary of the fishing division of Enda Tiers Monde, known by its French acronym REPAO, told IPS in an interview. Enda Tiers Monde is an international non-governmental organisation based in Dakar, working on development issues.

"But, compared to the export earnings of 165 to 207 million dollars, the financial compensation of the fishing agreements was ridiculous, if not more so considering the potential benefits of equitable trade. If market access to the EU was improved, Senegal could earn much more."

Even though Senegal, like all other least developed countries, can export duty-free and quota-free to the EU under the Everything but Arms initiative, other technical barriers to trade such as rules of origin and sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures make it hard for local fish to reach the European market.

The fishing agreements with the EU largely contributed to the depletion of resources, though FENAGIE recognises that the bad practices of Senegalese fishers are to blame too.

Even though the licences have been suspended, fishers fear the existence of secret agreements with other foreign ship owners.

"Our main recommendation is to have transparent and ethical governance of fishing resources in West Africa," urged Ndiaye. "The WSF provides momentum for mobilisation and awareness-raising of stakeholders. It is a window of opportunity for us."

Bakundakwita added that, "while fishing was a prosperous activity some years ago, small fishers are now getting poorer and poorer. Artisan fishing has deteriorated. There are too many fishers: foreign trawlers, but also local industrial and artisan fishers".

He explained that artisan fishermen do not only fish for their own consumption anymore but to sell their product on the local market. The best catch goes to foreign, more lucrative markets. The depletion of stocks makes fish more and more expensive and many people cannot afford to buy it any more.

This decrease in the availability of fish hits mainly women, who process and dry the fish. "If there is no more fish, they will be jobless and it will be a catastrophe," Bakundakwita believes.

The authorities are afraid to regulate, according to him. "Fishing licences bring money in. To limit the access of small fishers to the sea there need to be alternative activities for them, and there is none."

Ndiaye also expressed concern about the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) currently being negotiated with the EU. The African market will be open to European products, like tuna that will come in at a lower cost than the local tuna.

"But even before the EPAs are adopted, there has been progressive erosion of commercial preferences. Senegalese tuna is hardly competitive on the European market when compared to Asian tuna that is grown in aquaculture with huge government support."

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2010.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Africa, Development, Environment, Report Tagged With: , ,

ICELAND: Don’t Trust Those Fishy Certificates

December 3, 2010 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK, Dec 3, 2010 (IPS) – New eco-labels on Icelandic seafood are misleading and unregulated, concealing practices that damage the environment, critics say.

Increasingly, Icelandic fishing companies are focusing their attention on foreign markets. In order to appeal to eco-conscious consumers abroad, many of these corporations are introducing labels that guarantee their products as "certified responsible seafood".

However, critics claim that these labels obscure the truth of the fishing industry in Iceland, which relies on over-fishing and ecologically damaging practices to meet demand for profit.

One problem with the new labeling system is that it doesn’t rely on any objective criteria for certification – individual companies are responsible for certifying their own products as ecologically friendly without having to meet any specific standards. This has resulted in an array of labels for all types of fish.

Icelandic cod, for example, can be certified as eco-friendly in a variety of ways.

Finnur Gardarsson, a member of the Fisheries Association of Iceland, told IPS that Icelandic cod fisheries are being evaluated by Global Trust Certification, an "independent, accredited, third-party certification body" based in Ireland that will complete the certification process within the next few weeks, labeling the cod ‘Iceland responsible fisheries – certified’.

At the same time, the Icelandic Group, one of the top ten seafood companies worldwide, has begun a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) that will label Icelandic cod and haddock ‘certified responsible seafood – MSC’.

And Ny-fiskur, a fishing company that operates in the southwestern tip of Iceland, is beginning to label its cod ‘Friend of the Sea’.

In addition, an ‘Iceland Responsible Fisheries’ logo, which was developed in 2009 in response to requests by overseas buyers, is currently being used by more than 80 companies to market their fish abroad. The only criterion is that all the fish being sold must be of Icelandic origin.

Underneath the issue of using dubious certification for marketing purposes lies a deeper criticism: that the fishing industry in its current state is causing harm to the environment by relying on damaging practices.

Gretar Mar Jonsson, a long-time fisherman and former member of the Althing (Icelandic parliament), told IPS that with the current fishing management system, "men only land the best fish, discarding the rest, which means we are not treating our resources well."

Greenpeace echoed this statement in its International Seafood Red List. "For (haddock) stocks in Northeast Arctic and Iceland, scientists have recommended that better management is needed," it said. "Greenland halibut stock levels are at a historic low in waters around Iceland.

"Scientists have advised that fishing should be reduced," it added.

However, Icelandic quotas have been increased for both haddock and Greenland halibut. For the latter, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) recommended a catch of 5,000 tonnes for Iceland, East Greenland and the Faroes combined. Icelandic authorities subsequently decided on a quota of 13,000 tonnes, almost three times the recommended amount.

In addition, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography says that "fisheries that are being heavily depleted, reliant on high-impact methods such as bottom trawling that aren’t destined for human consumption, should be excluded from certification."

Bottom trawling, an industrial fishing method that drags large, heavy nets across the seafloor, has been shown to kill corals, sponges, fishes, and other animals. The method is heavily restricted around the globe and, in some waters, banned.

Information from the Directorate of Fisheries reveals that bottom trawls accounted for 44.5 percent of the total catch of Icelandic ships in the 2009- 2010 fishing year. The practice was used for catching main commercial fish: cod, haddock, saithe, and other demersal species.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2010.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Europe, Report Tagged With: , ,

Seasonal Bans Not Enough to Save Pacific Tuna

November 16, 2010 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Edgardo Ayala*

SAN SALVADOR, Nov 16, 2010 (Tierramérica) – The countries that fish for tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean see seasonal bans as a form of responsible fishing, but environmentalists argue that they are not enough to ensure the survival of a resource that is threatened around the world.

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC, based in California), whose member countries fish for tuna in the tropical Pacific, on Oct. 1 adopted new seasonal bans for 2011, 2012 and 2013 for the three most prized tuna species in the zone: the yellowfin (Thunnus albacares), bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis).

"What we are doing is preserving for the future; these are necessary conservation measures," Miguel Peñalva, director of operations for the Spain- based Calvo Group in El Salvador, told Tierramérica.

The Calvo Group started its tuna operations in El Salvador in September 2003 with an investment of 138 million dollars. Although this Central American country does not have a tuna industry as such, in virtue of Calvo’s presence, it has become the region’s principle exporter of canned tuna.

Four of the Calvo Group’s boats fish in international waters of the Pacific off the Salvadoran coast, and more than 80 percent of its exports, which totalled 100 million dollars in 2008, are destined for the European Union.

"If we don’t comply with the seasonal bans, they would declare our fishing illegal and we wouldn’t be able to sell it," said Peñalva.

The IATTC bans, based on studies by its scientific committee on the state of the Pacific’s fisheries, halt fishing 62 days per year and are required for all members: Belize, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, EU, France, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Taiwan, South Korea, United States, Vanuatu and Venezuela.

Independent observers report to the IATTC about the countries’ compliance with the bans, and the fishing fleets are monitored using satellites to determine their positions.

"The bans take place during the tuna’s growth period," said Peñalva, underscoring the importance of heeding the seasonal fishing stoppages.

But according to Sari Tolvanen, of Greenpeace International’s oceans campaign, "the bans don’t necessarily mean a reduction in fishing."

First of all, the periods are too short to make much of a difference, Tolvanen told Tierramérica from Amsterdam. The fleets that use purse-seine techniques fish 75 percent of the year, and cease operations when they have to undergo mechanical updates anyway, she said.

The purse-seine is one of the least eco-friendly fishing techniques because it allows huge captures in which there is a great deal of bycatch — fish that are too small or species that are not marketable.

In addition, the purse-seine vessels are quite large and increasingly use artificial floating objects to catch more fish, such that the seasonal bans make little sense, said Tolvanen.

When fishing for skipjack, those floating devices increase the bycatch of yellowfin and bigeye tuna that are still too small to be sold, further endangering these and other species, like sharks and sea turtles.

"Calvo and other companies rely heavily on the objects," which makes their operations "completely unsustainable," said the Greenpeace activist.

In its resolution, IATTC recognised that tuna fishing in the Eastern Pacific is increasing and that populations could begin to decline if the catch is excessive.

In other parts of the world, tuna populations have fallen to critical levels.

Bigeye and yellowfin tuna have been over-fished in all seas and face serious problems in the central and western Pacific, where their populations were relatively robust just a few years ago, according to Greenpeace.

The bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), native to the Atlantic and adjacent seas, is one step away from extinction, and the bluefin of the Mediterranean has seen its population drop 80 percent since 1999.

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) maintains a tuna stocks status chart on its website, using colour coding for each of the world’s seas and their tuna species — with red indicating the most critical stocks.

On the ISSF chart, the yellowfin and bigeye species are marked in yellow for the Eastern Pacific, because those populations cannot support any increase in catches, and in some cases suffer from overfishing. Only the skipjack is marked in green, indicating a healthy population.

In 2009, approximately 595,000 tonnes of tuna were caught in that region, 14 percent of the world tuna catch, according to the report updated in September, titled "ISSF Status of the World Fisheries for Tuna."

Spain, with the largest fishing fleet of the EU and third in the world after China and Peru, catches most of its tuna in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and off the coast of Western Africa, but according to Greenpeace, the "Spanish fishing armada" sails the world’s oceans pursuing more substantial catches of tuna, shark and codfish.

That would explain the presence of the Calvo Group in El Salvador.

For the 2009-2011 period, IATTC established specific quotas for some of the big fishers in the Pacific: China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

In Tolvanen’s view, the IATTC and other regional tuna commissions are a long way from achieving adequate management of the tuna species.

The Greenpeace expert stressed that it is just a handful of fishing nations that are negotiating the "tuna pie" and how to make more money, without considering the long-term health of the tuna stocks, the oceans, the means for people to make a living and their food security.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2010.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Report Tagged With: ,

CHILE: Alarm Over Decline in Mackerel Stocks

November 8, 2010 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Nov 8, 2010 (IPS) – Over-exploitation of jack mackerel, the main commercial species of fish caught in Chile, has caused the decline of the Pacific ocean species and a crisis in the fishing industry. Scientists recommend halving the catch in 2011.

Chile expected to fish 1.3 million tonnes of jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) within its 200-mile exclusive economic zone this year. But up to early November the country’s fleet had caught no more than 450,000 tonnes, according to the Fisheries Under-Secretariat at the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism.

And the countries belonging to the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) have landed only 712,000 tonnes so far this year.

The SPRFMO, which has been in the process of being formed since 2006, seeks to manage fisheries resources in a sustainable manner in the region.

Scientific delegations from the SPFRMO countries meeting in late October in the Chilean resort of Viña del Mar "determined that the situation is quite critical, on the verge of collapse," which means measures must be taken to protect the jack mackerel, Fisheries Under-Secretary Pablo Galilea told IPS.

The Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Ocean, which regulates the SPRFMO, was signed by Chile, China, Colombia, the Cook Islands, the European Union, the Faroe Islands, New Zealand and Peru. But only the Faroe Islands have ratified the convention, so its regulations are not yet binding.

Jack mackerel are abundant in the coastal and oceanic regions of the South Pacific. In South American waters, they are found off Ecuador, and particularly off Chile and Peru.

The estimated total biomass of jack mackerel has fallen by 79 percent since 2001. The catch reached a peak in Chile in 1995: a record 4.4 million tonnes.

Experts predict three possible scenarios. The gloomiest is a continuing decline of the mackerel population if current catch volumes are maintained.

"If the catch volume is reduced to 75 percent of the present level, there is a more than 50 percent probability that stocks will continue to shrink," said Galilea. "However, if the catch is cut by 50 percent, the biomass could start to recover."

The local chapter of Oceana, the largest international environmental organisation dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans, complained in August that the Chilean National Fisheries Council, made up of government authorities and industry representatives, has since 2003 set the annual quotas for jack mackerel at higher catch limits than were recommended by the Institute for Fisheries Development.

Samuel Leiva, an activist with the Chilean office of the environmental watchdog Greenpeace, which has observer status on the SPRFMO, told IPS that there has also been "a large increase in the foreign fleet of fishing vessels operating outside the 200-mile limit, mainly from China and the European Union."

Another factor is climate change, which may have affected the ocean currents and might be driving the jack mackerel further from the coast, towards the open ocean.

"Greenpeace believes the solution is ratification of the SPRFMO convention," so that scientific recommendations about catch quotas are respected, Leiva said.

In Chile, the main catch zone extends from the central region of Valparaíso to the southern region of Los Lagos, principally off the Bíobío region, situated more than 500 kilometres south of Santiago. A second extraction zone is located in the extreme north of the country.

Some of the jack mackerel catch is exported canned or frozen, but most of it is converted to fishmeal and fish oil, used as feed for farmed salmon, for which Chile is the world’s second largest producer.

"Our big challenge is to get all the countries who exploit this fishery to adopt conservation measures," said Under-Secretary Galilea. He added that Chile will propose "substantially lower quotas" at the next SPRFMO meeting, to be held Jan. 24-28, 2011, in Cali, Colombia.

The 2011 quotas will be decided by the National Fisheries Council in December, and Galilea stressed "this is the moment of truth, because out of the 22 major fisheries in the country, nine are overfished and four more are at risk of over-exploitation."

Cutting back the quotas "will require a major social and economic adjustment, especially in the Bíobío region," an area heavily damaged by the Feb. 27 earthquake and tsunami, Galilea admitted.

Industrial fishing vessels have been granted 95 percent of the catch quotas, set since 1999, while artisanal fishers have the remaining five percent. The fishing industry directly employs 10,000 workers in its vessels and processing plants.

The government of rightwing President Sebastián Piñera is relying on economic growth to absorb part of the workforce displaced from the fishing industry. It will also promote human consumption of jack mackerel, in order to increase its added value.

"The decline of the jack mackerel population does have an impact on us, but it won’t cause a crisis in small-scale fishing because it’s not our main catch," Zoila Bustamante, the head of the National Confederation of Artisanal Fishers (CONAPACH), told IPS. However, she acknowledged there would be a "significant" impact in the north of Chile.

In her view, "it’s not enough to just lower the quotas. We need to discuss how to ensure fair prices, in extraordinary periods like these. Because we are not the ones who over-exploit this fishery, and we think there should be a guaranteed minimum quota, in tonnes, for small-scale fishing.

"Jack mackerel ceased to be part of the basic Chilean diet years ago, when it began to be converted to fishmeal instead, so we’re not facing a food security problem, but rather the end of an industry developed by 15 large fishing companies," Bustamante said.

On Nov. 2, the Senate passed a bill changing the way catch quotas are set and mandating a study on the sizes of jack mackerels caught. The bill still has to make it through the lower house.

From January to July 2010, Chilean fisheries and aquaculture exports amounted to just over two billion dollars, 13 percent lower than the total for the same period in 2009.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2010.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Latin America, Report Tagged With: ,

Livelihoods at Stake as African Freshwater Species Die

September 9, 2010 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN

By Richard Johnsons

IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis

GENEVA (IDN) – The livelihoods of millions of people are at risk because 21 percent of freshwater species in continental Africa are threatened with extinction, warns a new report and adds that with so much to lose, inland waters must be managed not just for their supply of freshwater but also to sustain the abundant life within.

The call of caution comes at a point in time when plans are under way to greatly expand the use of Africa’s inland water resources, and for the first time the Swiss-based IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, has mapped species to individual river basins.

IUCN’s most comprehensive assessment of its kind evaluates 5,167 African freshwater species, which were appraised d by 200 scientists over a five-year period.

The evaluation was done for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, including all known freshwater fish, molluscs, crabs, dragonflies and damselflies, and selected families of aquatic plants. Some of the biggest threats to African freshwater species come from agriculture, water abstraction, dams and invasive alien species.

The IUCN Red List is the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of plant and animal species. It is based on an objective system for assessing the risk of extinction of a species should no conservation action be taken.

Species are assigned to one of eight categories of threat based on whether they meet criteria linked to population trend, population size and structure and geographic range. Species listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable are collectively described as ‘Threatened’.

The IUCN Red List is not just a register of names and associated threat categories. It is a rich compendium of information on the threats to the species, their ecological requirements, where they live, and information on conservation actions that can be used to reduce or prevent extinctions.

The IUCN Red List is a joint effort between IUCN Species Programme and the IUCN Species Survival Commission, working with its Red List partners BirdLife International; Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI); Conservation International; Department of Animal and Human Biology at Sapienza University of Rome; NatureServe; Royal Botanic Gardens Kew; Texas A and M University; Wildscreen; and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

The IUCN study highlights the perilous state of the world’s natural environment and contains vital information for decision-makers.

"Freshwaters provide a home for a disproportionate level of the world’s biodiversity. Although they cover just one per cent of the planet’s surface, freshwater ecosystems are actually home to around seven per cent of all species," says Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Head of IUCN’s Species Programme.

"This latest IUCN Red List assessment clearly shows that lakes, rivers and wetlands haven’t escaped the grasp of the current extinction crisis," he adds.

The report points out that even the loss of a single species can have a dramatic impact on livelihoods.

In Lake Malawi, for example, a group of fish, known as ‘chambo’ by locals, forms an extremely important source of food. Of these, Oreochromis karongae, an Endangered species, has been hugely overfished, with an estimated 70 per cent reduction in the population over the past ten years.

In Lake Victoria, a decline in water quality and the introduction of the Nile Perch (Lates niloticus) have caused a reduction in many native species over the past 30 years, threatening traditional fisheries. This IUCN Red List assessment studied 191 fish species in Lake Victoria and found that 45 per cent are threatened or thought to be extinct.

For many of the continent’s poorest people around the great lakes of Africa, fish provide the main source of protein and livelihoods. The livelihoods of an estimated 7.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa depend on inland fisheries. These new data will be invaluable in helping to safeguard these fisheries, freshwater supplies and the many other associated resources.

"Africa is home to an astonishingly diverse range of freshwater species, many of which are found nowhere else on earth," says William Darwall, leader of the project and Manager of IUCN’s Freshwater Biodiversity Unit. "If we don’t stem the loss of these species, not only will the richness of Africa’s biodiversity be reduced forever, but millions of people will lose a key source of income, food and materials."

IUCN explains that priority areas of highly threatened and restricted range species can now be identified. For example, in the waters of the crater-lake Barombi Mbo, in Cameroon, 11 species of fish are highly threatened and live a precarious existence as deforestation increases the risk of lake ‘burping’, where large levels of carbon dioxide are released from deep within the lake, suffocating the fish. Without management intervention these species, some of which are important food sources, may be lost forever.

Fish are clearly important to people, both as a source of food and income. But other freshwater species such as molluscs, dragonflies, crabs and aquatic plants also play vital roles in maintaining functioning wetlands and these should not be ignored. In the rapids of the lower reaches of the Congo River 11 species of mollusc, found only within a 100km stretch of water, are highly threatened due to upstream pollution. Molluscs such as these provide important functions including water filtration.

"This new study gives us a unique opportunity to try to influence developers and governments when they’re planning freshwater infrastructure projects, which are still in the early stages in most of Africa," says Anada Tiéga, Ramsar Secretary General.

The Ramsar Convention is the global intergovernmental treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. Contracting Parties, an acronym for member states; commit to the protection and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation. Parties implement this through the maintenance of wetlands’ ecological character, including by taking wetland conservation considerations into account in their land-use planning and management.

The Ramsar Convention works closely with IUCN and many other environment-related global and regional organizations. It has collaborative agreements with most global environmental conventions, including operating as the lead implementation partner on wetlands for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It recognizes the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands for people and biological diversity, including through their continued delivery of their socio-economic benefits and values.

"Until now we’ve not had the information we need about species and the threats they face but, armed with these IUCN Red List assessments, we hope that decision-makers in Africa will now make the right choices to develop their water resources in a sustainable manner whilst protecting and valuing global biodiversity."

The findings of this assessment are also being published in a series of regional reports. (IDN-InDepthNews/09.09.2010)

Copyright © 2010 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission the original author or copyright holder.


Filed Under: Africa, Development, Environment, Report Tagged With: ,

Oil Spill Comes at Worst Time for Endangered Bluefin Tuna

June 9, 2010 by

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS

By Matthew O. Berger

WASHINGTON, Jun 7, 2010 (IPS) – With their population at less than 20 percent of what it was four decades ago, bluefin tuna in the western Atlantic need a lot of things to go just right if they are going to survive as a population. Now, just as they are returning to the Gulf of Mexico to spawn, they are likely to find one of their key breeding grounds slicked-over with oil.

What effect the oil – or the dispersants used to break it up – will have on the survival of the western bluefin stocks is still an open question, but for a species many see as on a march toward extinction anything that makes life even a bit more difficult could be disastrous.

And there has been little to make life easier recently.

Biologically, bluefin are already unlucky. The fish – which can be as long as and faster than a sports car – only spawn once a year and only in certain locations. And this spawning only happens after eight to 10 years, during which time the fish grows from an egg into an adult fish averaging about 227 kilogrammes.

An effort to ban international trade in the endangered giants foundered in March when the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, voted down the protections.

Pew Environment Group estimates there are only 41,000 bluefin in the whole western Atlantic. Now, those fish are returning to their natal Gulf waters to find them much different than how they left them last year.

"The spill has been going on during their peak spawning period in the only place the western population spawns, so in timing and location it’s probably the worst place you could have it and during the worst time," said Lee Crocket, director of federal fisheries policy at Pew Environment.

"Now what exact impact that’s going to have I don’t think we’re going to know for probably a few years" when the fish being born now should be juveniles, he said. "If you don’t see fish of a certain age or you see a lot less fish of a certain age [it may be] because the spill damaged their eggs and larvae during that period."

A study released last Friday shows that the oil slick seeping out of the ruptured Deepwater Horizon well will cover key bluefin spawning waters north of that Gulf Loop current on the edge of the continental shelf.

Scientists from the Tag-A-Giant Foundation spent five years tagging and tracking bluefin and yellowfin tuna along the North American coast to determine where exactly in the gulf they breed. Their findings carry an ominous message that bluefin spawning may be directly impacted by the spill.

Bluefin release their eggs in the top 15 metres or so of water where they drift in the Gulf Loop current out to the ocean. This means eggs – as well as juvenile and adult fish – are exposed to oil and the dispersant chemicals that are now also in those upper layers of water.

The dispersants may be particularly troublesome since the eggs are mainly composed of oils, which, some studies have predicted, could be broken down by the oil-eroding dispersants.

A new era for bluefin in the Gulf?

But there is another, rosier finding in Friday’s study, published in the online, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE. It shows that bluefin choose only specific locations in the gulf in which to spawn whereas yellowfin are dispersed throughout gulf waters. This means it should be entirely possible to protect the endangered bluefin from being accidentally caught by those fishing for yellowfin.

The catching of bluefin as bycatch has been a major problem in the gulf for decades. Fishing boats have been banned from targeting bluefin since 1982, but the miles-long longlines boats use to catch yellowfin can and do accidentally also hook bluefin – as well as marlins, sharks, birds, turtles and marine mammals.

Crockett says 300 to 500 bluefin get caught as bycatch in swordfish and yellowfin longlining each year and for those fish "there’s almost a hundred percent mortality".

The visibility that the oil spill has brought to pelagic gulf species, though, may help a bit with getting action on preventing this deadly bycatch.

One of the things he is hoping is that the money that goes to compensate fishermen for lost productivity due to the oil contamination does not go to "just replicate what they’ve been doing, that this is an opportunity to maybe transition these fishermen into a different way of fishing for yellowfin tuna and swordfish".

He pointed to two ways in which this fishing could be done more sustainably. Alternative gear like green sticks, in which hooks are suspended on top of the water, and buoy gear, to which no more than two hooks are attached and retrieved by hand, offer methods of fishing that would target certain species much more directly and avoid most bluefin bycatch.

On the other side of the ocean, life is no easier for Atlantic bluefin.

After seeing their population drop by 82 percent over the last four decades due largely to overfishing, the western Atlantic bluefin population has more or less stabilised in the last decade, albeit at very low numbers, due to well- enforced quotas in the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic.

But the eastern Atlantic stock is still dropping at two to three times sustainable rates, according to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna.

Those tuna spawn in the Mediterranean. Currently, the conservation groups Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society are in the midst of facing off with those Mediterranean fishers. The groups have been trying to free tuna captured by boats’ purse seine nets while the fish congregate to spawn.

Little can be done to free the eggs and tuna from the oil covering their Gulf of Mexico birthplaces, though, and whatever the impacts of that oil may be.

All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service, 2010.

This article may not be republished, broadcast, framed, or redistributed without the written permission of IPS – Inter Press Service. Republication of this material without permission from IPS, the copyright holder, constitutes a violation of United States and international copyright laws and may result in legal action.


Filed Under: Environment, Report Tagged With: , ,
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